


I Know Places

by OdinAyelia



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: AU, F/M, Modern, ModernThedas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-26 20:03:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6253999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OdinAyelia/pseuds/OdinAyelia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Modern Thedas, Elanna Lavellan attends the University of Orlais studying Rift magic. After an incident where a prominent faculty member is killed, Elanna must take her place as Inquisitor and find the demons who have slipped through and possessed most of the student body. Her work with a certain professor leads to a love that never should have happened.</p><p>This idea wouldn't leave me alone. Modern Thedas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Dread Wolves

“Remind me again why I decided to major in the Fade?” I groaned as I stared blankly at my workbook.

Rift Magic was a newer field at the University of Orlais, and as such the work was twice as hard, at least I thought.

I cast a glance over at my best friend Dorian, who a eagerly soaking up the pages of his course material. Of course he would excel in anything put in his path; that’s just the way he was.

“If I recall correctly, your exact words were, ‘this is the only program that will challenge me,’” he said, flashing me that devastating grin and raised eyebrow.

I stuck my tongue out at him. “Do you want me to admit I was wrong? Would that make you happy?” I teased, shutting my leather-bound textbook and leaning back in the hard library chair.

He eyes me skeptically. “I’m not sure betting on _your_ giving up is the wisest move, Lavellan.”

“That might just be a smart choice,” I said, grinning.

As much as my studies were grueling, I enjoyed them. I’d worked so hard to be one of the few Dalish at the University, I was sure not to let anything get in my way.

“Do you want to head back?” I asked. We’d both finished our Elfroot teas and had already been studying for two hours.

“You mean you would hazard being seen with a Tevinter?” Dorian asked with faux shock.

I punched him gently in the arm. “Just as much as you’d hazard being seen with a Dalish,” I replied.

“Oh, I think that’s the least hazardous thing I could do. After all, you are up for Inquisitor,” he pointed out.

But I didn’t care what people thought. Dorian was my friend, and I trusted him with my life.

I swung my arm through his before we left. “Let’s give them something to talk about.”

***

When I reached my dorm room, angry screams rang through the halls from my door. Either my roommate Sera was in the throes of ecstasy, or she was angry. It was difficult to tell, but from the growling in her tone, I was willing to bet on the latter. Plus, she hadn’t left anything on the door handle, which had been our rule at the beginning of the semester.

I pushed open the door, finding her shredding up her textbook with an angry glee.

“What are you doing, exactly?” I asked hesitantly as I entered.

“This course is bollocks,” she announced without looking over at me.

“Another run-in with the naughty professor?” I asked, placing my bag on my bed and removing my books.

She turned to glare at me quickly before returning to her happy destruction. “Naughty’s not the right way to put it, though. He just…tries to make me angry. On purpose! What kind of teacher does that, yeah?” she said through gritted teeth.

“Are you sure he tries to make you angry, or does that come all on its own?” I teased.

She shook her head. “He’s the elfiest fucking elf I’ve ever met, that’s one thing,” she said. She panted, her book pages like snowflakes falling through the air.

“Damn, I thought I was the elfiest elf. I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed,” I said. I lay back on my bed, pulling out my laptop over my legs. “Let’s take a look at this professor, hmm? What’s his name?”

“Solas somethingorother. Fenrel? Might as well be Fen’Harel,” she spat.

I typed the name into my browser, and a series of images displayed across the screen. Most were professional photos for yearbooks or magic profiles, centering a tall, stoic elf with fine features and a smooth scalp. I noticed no _vallaslin_ painting his face. A city elf, then.

“He’s kind of handsome, in a nerdy way,” I admitted with a giggle. Sera was not impressed in the slightest.

“You joshing me now, huh?” she said.

I shook my head, scrolling down through the wall of photos until I came across something that forced a squeal from my lips.

“What is it?” Sera insisted.

I pushed the laptop her way to show her a photo of her so _studious_ hated professor posing as the front man of a band, with a braided faux-hawk and black skinny jeans which covered a surprisingly well-muscled body. The band was called _The Dread Wolves_.

“Looks like teacher really is naughty,” I whispered.

I kept scrolling for more photos, my smile growing as my roommate tossed her torn-up book pages at my head.


	2. Wake Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A meeting with Dean Justinia goes awry

The shrill _ring_ of my phone woke me up in the morning; I’d passed out with my laptop still open, photos of Sera’s professor still up on the screen. I chuckled quietly as I flipped it closed and turned off my alarm. A notification popped up: _Meeting with Dean Justinia_.

I groaned inwardly. Of course I’d arranged a meeting on a Saturday morning. I glanced jealously at Sera, who was snoring heavily, her blankets pulled right over her head.

I got dressed quietly, trying not to wake up my roommate, then gathered my things to go to my meeting.

The University of Orlais campus was fairly quiet, only a few students rumbling about, a few making the walk of shame in wrinkled clothing from the night before. A group of faculty was out in the courtyard, practicing skills like archery and spellcasting. I recognized a few of them from classes and functions.

It was a pretty diverse campus, with courses ranging from fields of Magic, Chantry Academia, a Templar School, even a small section devoted to the Qun. It was the epicenter for learning, a prestigious place, and the role of Inquisitor was a much sought-after student position. It was mostly a title these days, as there hadn’t been a breach in ages. For it to be offered to a Dalish would be a huge achievement for my people, and if this meeting with Dean Justinia went well…

I entered the main office, finding it dark and quiet. It was the weekend, after all, but usually there was a student volunteer. The last time it had been a strange, quiet guy named Cole. This time there was only silence.

“Good Morning,” I called out, hoping someone was just in the back, but there was no answer. I heard shuffling, then what sounded like muted screams.

Something was wrong. Heart pounding, I rushed toward the noises, toward Dean Justinia’s office. As I pushed the door open, I found the Dean being held up by strange, green magic. Justinia looked over to me, her eyes screaming for help as her mouth was bound.

“What’s going on here?” I asked, trying to sound stronger than I was, though my knees were shaking and my heart was trembling.

The door closed behind me, and I could feel two mages, and a third… I wasn’t sure what he was, but he was powerful. I whipped around to find a demented creature, a ghoulish man with red lyrium growing from his skin.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he growled.

He rushed toward me, red eyes glowing, and the world went dark.

***

When I woke again, soft sunlight faded into the room. I was lying in a bed, not my own, with my hands bound together. My left hand throbbed with angry pains, and my body felt like it had been hit by a hundred halla. I moaned softly, attempting to open my eyes.

“Be still, Da’len,” a soft but deep voice intoned beside me.

I obeyed, but managed to open my eyes. The sunlight was harsh, at first, but then it softened, and I could see the smooth head of the man tending to my wounds. He didn’t seem to mind the blood that had stained his moss green sweater-vest, and was intensely focused on healing the cuts and bruises all over my body.

A rush of awareness caused me to blush. My shirt had been torn off, and beyond a thin sheet covering me, only bandages wrapped around my chest hid my modesty.

“I’m…cold,” I managed to whisper.

He looked up, then, realizing I was awake, and pulled a thicker blanket over me. He had moved to my shoulder, allowing most of me to be covered. Not that I was usually self-conscious of my body. I was Dalish, after all, and I’d grown up spending a fair amount of time in rivers and hot springs without any clothing on, but for some reason I didn’t want him to see my body yet, as though he had to earn it.

I must have been delirious.

“What has happened?” I asked finally, after I could stand the silence no more. The man stopped what he was doing and looked up at me, and I half recognized his face immediately. He was the professor Sera complained about. The lead singer of the _Dread Wolves_. He looked the same, but different, without the wild hair or the hungry look of his rock star alter ego.

“I was hoping you could answer that question,” he intoned. “Much has happened in the last several hours. Much has changed. Perhaps you have changed the most.”

“You’re speaking in riddles,” I muttered, my head suddenly screaming at me.

He leaned back a bit, a small smile on his lips. “My apologies. Perhaps it would be better for you to rest. I’m sure you have many questions, though I am not sure I am the one to answer all of them,” he said.

Before I could protest, he held a hand over me, and a relaxing energy pulsed through my body. Within moments, I was fast asleep, dreaming of strange magic and beautiful wolves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short one to set up some fun. Thanks to everyone reading! Xoxo!


	3. The Professor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All she wants is a damn drink.

I never thought my election as Inquisitor would end up being one of the most controversial things to happen in all of Orlais in ages. I mean, I imagined it being a big deal, me being Dalish, but I’d never imagined it would include murder, magic, and a divided campus set on either my veneration or my death.

I’d woken up later in the healing room, a group of faculty staring at me and my hand. There were the two Vice-Deans, Cassandra Pentaghast and Leliana, Cullen of the Templars, Vivienne of the mages, and our resident-author, Varric Tethras. They argued like I wasn’t in the room at all for what seemed like hours before they came to the consensus that I would be the Inquisitor based on Dean Justinia’s notes, and that we _all_ had to put forward a united front so the school wouldn’t know how much danger we were all in.

I was more than happy to be brought back to my own room to rest. A guard was stationed outside my door, but other than that I was left alone.

Sera and Dorian rushed to my side as soon as the guard let them, but they both stayed plenty far away from my left hand.

“What the hell happened?” Sera asked, keeping her voice down. “I heard there was a battle, and the Dean is missing,” she said.

“I heard she’s dead,” Dorian muttered. Sera glared at him, and he only shrugged.

“She is dead, at least, that’s what they told me. I don’t remember much,” I admitted. My voice had almost disappeared, raspy and inconsistent. I needed a drink.

“So, you are to be Inquisitor, then,” Dorian said after a moment of silence.

“That’s what they tell me,” I replied.

“Well our room is pretty much its own hallway now, after this. They tried to convince me to change rooms, but I was having none of that. No time to leave you on your own,” Sera said.

I smiled at her. “Thank you.”

“What’s next?” Dorian asked.

I eyed the door, but the guard didn’t seem to be listening. “I can’t really say. The Faculty just keep arguing about what to do. And there was…a man, a demon, I’m not sure. He was covered in red lyrium,” I said.

“Red lyrium, you say?” Dorian seemed interested, but offered no information.

“Well, what happened to him, then?” asked Sera.

I searched my mind, but could remember nothing after he came at me, and then waking up to a soft, healing touch.

“I’m exhausted. I don’t want to think about anything anymore. Is the campus secure?” I said.

“Locked down, but secure, as far as I know. They haven’t told anyone what’s happened,” Dorian said.

“Then I need a drink,” I stated loudly.

The guard at my door seemed to hear this, and propped the door open. Sera was ahead of me, though, and snuck up behind him, using her new textbook to clock him in the head, knocking him out.

“What? He was only going to be in the way,” she said unapologetically.

I tightened the cloth around my hand as I stepped over his unconscious body, hoping nobody at the pub would notice the strange green magic leaking from my hand.

***

 _The Autumn Ram_ was just the right amount of bustling so that we could sit in a corner and have some sort of anonymity.

Dorian grabbed us a carafe of his preferred wine and a few goblets as I sat in the deepest corner with my hood drawn up. It would do not good for me to get caught right now, especially when I _so_ needed this.

The wine trickled deliciously down my throat, and I let out the first sigh of relief since the incident.

“Can we talk about something not related to, you know, everything?” I asked once I’d swallowed. All I could hear around me were people speculating about what was going on, whether another Blight had begun, whether we were safe. I felt like too much rested on my shoulders already, and I’d barely done anything.

“We could talk about that wondrous creature over there,” Dorian mumbled, his eyes locked on to a bulky Qunari.

“You like that brute?” Sera quipped, eyeing him down. The Qunari had grabbed a beer and was sitting with a team of some variety with _Chargers_ written on their apparel.

Dorian gave her a wink. “I wouldn’t expect you to see the appeal,” he drawled.

“Why don’t you go speak to him, Dor?” I asked.

“Maybe another time. Tonight is your night, not mine,” he said.

“Wouldn’t the horns get a bit complicated?” Sera continued.

“Hopefully,” Dorian suggested, wiggling his brows.

“Pour me another,” I said, finishing the rest of my wine.

“At this rate you’ll be drunk before the moon is out,” Dorian said as he poured gleefully.

“As long as we’re back in the room before the guard wakes up, I don’t care what happens in between,” I mumbled.

My eyes glazed over as I listened to Sera and Dorian banter back and forth, and I drank more than usual, trying to forget. Perhaps I would wake up and the world would be normal again. I’d be in the running for the Inquisitor title, my hand would stop hurting, and my future would be filled only with classes and tests.

If only.

As the night wore on, the crowd grew louder, and as I drank, my control over the magic steaming from my hand waned.

I gasped as a shock ran through me and green light flashed throughout the pub. The Autumn Ram grew quiet as everyone looked over toward our corner, my friends unable to hide me anymore.

But before anyone could ask any questions, someone nearby stood up, stealing away the attention. I realized quickly it was Sera’s _elfiest-elf_ Professor, the one who had healed me.

He cast some form of spell which let out the same bright glow as my hand. “Sorry about that, everyone, I’ve been playing with an old artifact. Carry on,” he announced.

I didn’t think it would work, but the student base all seemed to just shrug and carry on. The Professor rushed toward us, glaring at us as he whirled in front of our table.

“Oh, it’s you,” Sera said, voice flat. She ignored him and drank back her wine.

“Do you think it’s wise to be out of your chambers, Da’len?” he asked, gazing pointedly at the nearly empty wine cafafe.

“Wait. You two know each other?” Sera butted in.

“Sort of,” I said to her, then turned to the Professor, “I just needed to get out for a bit.”

“It is not a good time for the Inquisitor to be out. Danger may lurk around every corner. Can I trust you to return her to safety?” he asked.

“Now, hold on a moment. Just who are you?” Dorian questioned, a thick eyebrow raised in protest.

“His name is Solas whathisname and he’s a _boring_ professor here,” Sera answered for him, snorting.

Solas seemed to sigh inwardly, biting his tongue. “I am a member of the Council here, and they would not be impressed to see—” He was cut short by my groan as my hand flashed again. “Hurry, let’s get her back to her room,” he said.

***

Once we were back safely in my room, both Dorian and Sera squared off against Solas as he tried to get at my hand, which was flashing like mad.

“How do I know I can trust you?” Sera accused.

“I think I should ask the same question, given that you incapacitated a guard in order to go to a pub,” Solas pointed out.

“Will you both just stop! He has healed me before,” I groaned. The pain was becoming unbearable.

My friends backed off, letting Solas come to me. He unwrapped the fabric from my hand, and the bright green glow was almost blinding.

Wrapping his hands around it, I could swear his eyes glowed for a second, but it must have been my imagination. At any rate, the pain stopped.

“Thank you,” I said breathily. “That feels much better.”

He stood up.

“You must learn to control it. If I am correct in my assumptions, the magic that has possessed you is Elvhen, and will be of great help to us in the near future,” he said.

“What does that mean?” Dorian asked.

Solas turned to him. “All I can say is that after the events the Inquisitor has experienced, there will be consequences, and consequences generally include all manner of refugees from the Fade,” he said.

“That’s an interesting word for Darkspawn,” Dorian remarked.

“Until we see each other again, Da’len,” Solas said to me, then left quickly, stepping deftly over the unconscious guard.

Sera looked at us both. “He’s just the worst, isn’t he?” she said.

“I’m not sure. He certainly seems to know a lot about Elanna’s mark,” Dorian said.

“Bollocks,” Sera muttered, moving to her bed.

I was thoroughly exhausted, and slightly drunk, and a bit intoxicated by the lingering fresh smell of the Professor. I must have looked like a complete fool.

“You, my dear, should get some rest. No doubt the _Council_ will be here bright and early in the morning, ready to coach you into whatever political story they have decided on. Try to find me when they’re done, all right?” Dorian said.

He planted a kiss on my forehead before leaving.

I rolled around in my bed most of the night, trying to sleep, but unable to escape the thoughts of all the things I would be forced to do in the forthcoming days.

Lazy nights like the night before seemed like ages ago. Nothing would be the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3 <3


End file.
